Archive for 'Reviews'
Why you should use a Mac to study Japanese
Posted on 09. Jun, 2009 by koichi.
Mmm. Macs. I’m about the biggest fanboy you’ll see, which probably means a totally biased review. This morning, on the way to work, I made the trek to my version of Mecca and walked past ground zero for Apple’s Worldwide Developer’s Conference. I’ve been thinking about how macs make it easier for me to study Japanese, but the announcement of one particular feature on Snow Leopard (the new OS, which will cost a mere $29) has motivated me to finish this article. Here’s Mac versus PC, blow by blow, when it comes to Japanese study. Let the flame wars begin. (more…)
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Practice Kana, Kanji, and Particles with Nihongoup
Posted on 05. Jun, 2009 by koichi.
Philip Seyfi sent me an e-mail asking me to check out his Adobe Air application Nihongoup (for a long time I thought its name was some sort of weird misspelling, or a fish reference, which of course we approve of). He hooked me up with a free copy (it’s normally $4.99) as well as five more to give away to all of you. You’ll have to keep reading to figure out how you can win. (more…)
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Live Action (Chinese) DragonBall Movie
Posted on 04. May, 2009 by koichi.
We’ve had a lot of “fun” with DragonBall as of late, and after this tip I couldn’t help but post this as well. I’ve seen little bits of this live action Chinese Dragonball knockoff, but not more than a couple of minutes. You know, actually, the fact that this is a Chinese movie kind of makes sense, since Dragonball really came from the Chinese Monkey King anyways, and at least it’s better than the American version. So, if you want to watch the entire movie (full of English dubbed goodness), go below the fold. This is good stuff, I, uh, promise? (more…)
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How Godzilla Affects My Daily Commute
Posted on 30. Apr, 2009 by koichi.
Got this tip from @Beta_guy on Twitter. Every word of this video, so true. Brings a little tear to my eye. And is this the shortest Tofugu post you’ve ever seen? Yes it is! Want more Godzilla?
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Tenso: Get Your Own Japanese Shipping Address (and ship things on the cheap)
Posted on 21. Apr, 2009 by koichi.
What Tenso is doing is one of those ideas where you think “dang, I shoulda thought of that.” It’s simple, it’s helpful, and provides a really good service. I tried it out recently, and they let me pick out a Japanese t-shirt and ship it via their service, so that I can give it away to one of you. More information on that at the end of the post.
So here’s the rundown on Tenso: 1) You go to a Japanese website that sells something. 2) You order the item, and have it shipped to your tenso.com address (the address is free). The package is then sent to them, located in Tokyo. 3) They get the package, and then send it to you at a discounted rate. (more…)
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JapanSoc Chooses the Best Japanese News
Posted on 29. Mar, 2009 by koichi.
The Best Jerry, the Best! (anyone catch this reference, or am I old?)
At Tofugu, we don’t do a very good job keeping you up to date on Japanese news. In fact, we do a pretty horrid job, because that’s not really our niche (though it’s hard to pass up the occasional fun story). There are a few sites that thankfully do a good job at keeping up with Japanese news, but they tend to be overflowing with content and it’s hard to keep up, even for an RSS guru like myself. That’s why I love JapanSoc, and you should to.
JapanSoc is a lot like Digg, except it’s only for Japan-related things. Better than Digg, it has a great (friendly) community, it focuses on a specific niche (Japan), and works really really well. Whenever I want to know what’s going on in Japan (and only want to know the interesting / important things), this is where I go – otherwise there’s just too much noise, and I can’t keep up! (more…)
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Nipponster’s Japanese Toolbar
Posted on 08. Mar, 2009 by koichi.
Nipponster recently updated their “Japanese toolbar,” which now includes my Top Ten List of Free Japanese Resources in an easy to access tab. After I was notified, I fired up a non-beta version of Firefox to try it out (also works on other browsers), and came away pretty impressed. It really puts together a lot of useful resources for Japanese learners and enthusiasts, all in one place. Here are some of the features you’ll see if you give it a whirl. (more…)
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iKnow: The Best Japanese Vocabulary Flashcard Site on the Web
Posted on 18. Nov, 2008 by koichi.
We’ve all been through it. We’ve all experienced it. Studying vocabulary can be a huge drag. There are tons of different resources for vocab studying, but none of them out there are really really good. Usually, you have to input all the information yourself (which takes longer than just studying without flashcards), or you just study and forget to go back. No vocabulary resource has been so streamlined and so well put together before iKnow.co.jp, which, of course, is what we’ll be looking at in pretty good detail today.
If you’ve ever had trouble with vocabulary, iKnow will change that. If you think you’ve been doing fine all this time, you’ll soon realize that it can only get better for you.
Here’s why iKnow is so good at pile driving kanji / vocabulary into the mat (is my WWF vocab okay?). Firstly, iKnow hits vocab from all angles. Hands on learner, visual learner, auditory learner… doesn’t matter. There’s something for everyone. In fact, if you use all these angles to your advantage, you’re only solidifying and remembering recently learned vocab more efficiently and better. I don’t know how often I forget vocab I’ve just learned. iKnow prevents this as much as possible. (more…)
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Top 10 Online Resources for Learning Japanese for Free
Posted on 21. Oct, 2008 by koichi.
I’m really proud and excited to announce Tofugu’s first annual “Top 10 Online Resources for Learning Japanese for Free” list, which includes an e-book that’s available for download at the end of the article. There’s also video down there for all you people who don’t like reading things!
Have you ever wondered what was out there in the tubes of the interwebs in terms of improving your Japanese? Honestly, a whole lot of junk. Some of that junk is mediocre, but most of it is pretty junky. I’ve sifted through all that and came up with a list of the best Japanese resources on the web. Granted, everything is just my opinion, but I think this is a really well rounded list that should have something (hopefully a few things) for everyone! If you’ve been a reader on Tofugu for a while now, you’ve probably seen some of these. Still there’s a lot of new stuff here, so please, dive in, and tell me what you think! (more…)
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Yokai Attack! The Japanese Monster Survival Guide Review
Posted on 09. Oct, 2008 by koichi.
Matt Alt from AltJapan sent me this book he and Hiroko Yoda wrote about Japanese monsters. He must have known of my infatuation (perhaps long-term romance is another word) with Godzilla and other monsters, so of course, I enjoyed going through it immensely. (more…)
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